A Jinx and Parchment Dares
by Aeternus Memoriter
Summary: A blatant deduction from Ginny leaves Hermione no choice but to take action. Will she be able to free herself from the wretched curse casted upon her?


'_Wait till I get my hands on her neck…'_ Hermione fumed, as she walked back slowly to her Heads Common Room. Various students passing by gave her curious looks at the livid expression on her face. It also seems like every minute or so, she would look behind her shoulder.

"Maybe all that studying finally got to her." a student murmured after walking around the flustered brunette. Hermione simply ignored the looks from everyone and began to devise a plan on getting back at Ginny. Normally her rational side would come up at these moments, but it seems to have flown out somewhere. Under normal circumstances, she would never think to have any plans for plain hostility, but in this case, it was an exception. _'She has no right to meddle in my personal life! I can get a date, I just put my studies and homework first' _she nodded in reassurance and replayed the days' events in her mind.

_Arriving in the Great Hall, she spotted her two best friends and slid into the seat across from them. Her worn bag stuffed with books made a loud thump next to her, as usual. "Hey guys, already eating without me I see."_

_Harry swallowed what he was eating before giving her a playful grin and replying, "Hi Hermione, overloading on books without us already eh?" _

_Ron, who was listening in, choked on his food after hearing what he had said and ended up having Harry pat his back to swallow the sandwich. After a while the red head snorted, gave Hermione a loppy smile, and her daily greeting before returning to what's left of his food. Hermione merely rolled her eyes and sighed exasperatedly at Ron's choice of behavior._

"_Well I carry books for a reason, and they're for studying which you two should be doing too." She said pointedly. This time it was Harry's turn to roll his eyes and sigh which seemed to become a habit after every reminder. "Don't roll your eyes at me Harry; you know it's important in order to-"_

_Thankfully for the two boys, Hermione was cut off by Ginny as she plopped down next to her. "Hermione, I've been looking everywhere for you! Can I ask you a favor?"_

_The brunette raised an eyebrow at the youngest Weasley since she only sat a few seats away and could easily spot the trio. None the less, she was curious to what Ginny wanted. "Sure, what is it?"_

"_I've been having a bit of trouble in my charms homework and was wondering if you could help me since you're such an expert in it."_

_Hermione's face brightened before the sentence could even be finished. "Of course I'll help you Ginny, see? Unlike you two, some people actually give time to studying." She remarked all the while glaring at Ron and Harry._

"_Great! We'll meet after dinner." The youngest red head said and dashed back to her previous seat before Hermione could say anything else._

'_I can't believe I fell for it! I mean when was the last time Ginny asked me for help in homework? Was it fourth or fifth year…or maybe third.' _As Hermione turned the corner, she hit face first into something or rather _someone_,resulting in both toppling over.

"Granger how much do you weigh? Maybe you should cut back on those sweets you've been eating." Her eyes snapped open at the all too familiar voice. _'Malfoy'_

She groaned at her already bad luck, _'Of all the people to knock over, it has to be him. I really don't need the periodic jibes right now.'_ Hermione squeaked at finally realizing that she was still on top and hurriedly stood up. As Draco rose from the floor, he dusted himself off and turned back to Hermione. A smug looked crossed his face, "What, nothing to say Granger? Has your orange ball of fur you call a cat got your tongue?"

She merely glared at him with contempt and wished to Merlin he would be swallowed down to the deep depths of the Abyss. Alright, perhaps that was a bit much but it would do good to vent some anger out. This only made Draco's ego double at the rewarded silence. Perhaps he missed the murderous glint in Hermione's eyes or just chose to ignore it, either way he began to turn the corner making his way towards the heads portrait. It was then the brunette realized she had passed the quarters herself and proceeded to follow the Head Boy, which unfortunately had to be Malfoy. In the midst of walking, she recounted the events in the library and how it had come to be her troubling mistake.

"_Ginny! Sorry for keeping you waiting, Ron had trouble with his potions essay." She said apologetically._

"_No problem, we should go in now, I want to finish the homework possibly by this year." The red head replied jokingly. Both laughed and talked while walking towards a table behind a row of books. Ginny smiled at this, 'Perfect' She had been waiting for the perfect time to set up her scheme knowing that at least Harry and Ron won't be tagging along._

"_So what sort of trouble do you have?" Hermione asked as she put down her bag of books._

"_Huh? Oh right umm…well Professor Flitwick has us doing the freezing charm but I can't umm…seem to get the hand movements right." It was a white lie, she could do it perfectly but her friend doesn't have to know that._

"_Oh! It's simple," Hermione pulled out her wand and began to show her demonstrations while telling her the history behind the charm. Even though the information was unnecessary, Ginny let her continue in hopes of preparing for the next step in her plan. "Now it's your turn-Ginny?"_

_Startled out of her thoughts, she stared at the brunette before replying, "I'll need something to practice on." Hermione pulled out a piece of parchment, crumbled it up, and made to throw it into the air._

"_Ready?" she asked. With a responding nod, the ball lifted into the air. Raising her wand from her side, Ginny whispered something inaudible but did not point at the ball. The spell, or rather jinx, headed towards Hermione causing a pink glow to envelope her. It lasted a few seconds before fading and revealing a shocked girl with wide eyes. Her mouth was opened, failing miserably to speak and only ended up making her look quite displeasing. When her mind finally registered what had happened, she began to say something but nothing came out. She tried again and again, nothing. So instead, she glowered at the red head that now held a gleeful expression._

"_It worked! After five hours of research, it finally paid off." Hermione's anger dissipated a bit and was replaced by wonderment at what would make this giddy girl search for a jinx, in a library…for five hours. Taking out another piece of parchment, she scribbled something and held it up in Ginny's face._

'_I demand you tell me what's going on! Why can't I speak? What was that light? And why are YOU so happy?'_

_Ginny shook her head and waved the parchment away, "I've decided to help you since you don't seem to believe in love anymore." Hermione rose both eyebrows inquisitively, she grabbed the parchment back, wrote down something else, and gave it to the young Weasley._

'_I thank you for taking the time to help me, but I do know what love is so you can reverse whatever you put on me and we'll be on our merry way' by now the curiosity has faded and irritation had taken place._

_Ginny merely gave a snort and shook her head, "Come on Hermione, I don't see you with any other boy EXCEPT for Ron and Harry. Don't even think of saying that you have Krum because I know you both stopped writing to each other a long time ago."_

'_That's because I'm busy and I don't have enough time to go around with anyone else.' Hermione wrote. _

"_Exactly, you seem to be too busy drowning in studies so far this year."_

'_I have N.E.W.T.'s!'_

_The red head rolled her eyes, "Relax will you? You won't be having your exams until the end, so you'll have plenty of time. Anyway that's why I've decided to help you," she beamed. "The jinx is said that unless a boy or girl kisses you, your voice will be vacated until the order is met. In your case it's a boy."_

_Hermione blinked a few times and began to shriek in protest whilst completely forgetting about the loss of her voice. Thankfully for the jinx, it helped prevent them from being kicked out of the library. Though if this had never happened, she wouldn't be yelling mutedly. _

"_Well good luck with the kiss and let me know who the guy is!" Ginny yelled behind her back completely ignoring Madame Pince's scolding words and running towards the doors. A few minutes of feet stomping, hair pulling, and shaking-Ginny-senseless thoughts later, she headed towards the double doors herself looking livid but all the more frazzled. _

'_So here I am with an overworked brain and what seems like a headache coming on.' _Giving out a soundless groan, she plopped down on the couch opposite of Malfoy who lay sprawled in an armchair. Apparently he was attempting to sleep, _'How he could in that position is beyond me'_

Waking at the sound of movement, he sneered when his eyes spotted the Head Girl. "A Fire Crab can walk faster than you, honestly."Grabbing a nearby cushion, Hermione aimed it at his face and leaned her head on the armrest facing the side of the couch. She couldn't help but smile at hearing the muffled sputtering from across.

During the beginning of term, both Heads had decided to at least be tolerable since living in the same common room required a lot of patience. _'If you call slamming the door open to use the bathroom even when it's occupied patient.' _The brunette snorted at the thought. Even though they could be civilized, it still didn't mean they wouldn't take a bite out of each other every once in a while. _'It's a good thing I only went in there to brush my teeth or he'd never be here, glaring at me.'_ It was then she realized that he was still there. Suddenly an idea sprung up in her mind. _'Ah well, I'm already in the rabbit hole, why not explore around?'_

Pulling out another piece of parchment inside her bag she began to write while watching Draco from the corner of her eyes. She then folded it in half and slid it across the coffee table that separated the two. The bleached blond cocked a finely shaped eyebrow, wondering why she won't just talk but took the parchment anyway and reluctantly read.

'_Ever heard of the game called Truth or Dare?'_

He thought for moment, warily he shook his head no, feeling oddly inquisitive to this game. Hermione held out her hand for the parchment back, wrote something else and passed it to him again.

'_Would you like to play?'_

Somewhere in the back of the boy's mind told him it was a bad idea, but the name of the game made it intriguing to try. "What're the rules and how do you play?" Hermione smirked, a thing she rarely did and only shows up on occasions.

'_The object of the game is to choose either truth or dare when a person asks. If you pick truth, you answer whatever the person questions. If you pick dare, you have to go through with their request. Rules…none.' _she wrote.

Turning back to her, Draco gave a slight nod and asked, "Who goes first?"

'_I will, truth or dare?'_

Contemplating a bit he finally chose, "Dare"

Tapping her chin with a finger, the brunette thought and grinned at what she came up with making the boy reconsider his choice of playing. Writing down the dare, she looked up at him for a moment and nodded as if to verify what she wanted. Hermione gave the parchment to Draco and folded her hands on her lap awaiting his reaction.

'_I dare you to go one day without the use of that gel on your hair, it looks absolutely dreadful. Say, do you wash it often?'_

Draco looked outraged and made to protest but was stopped by Hermione's raised hand. She had expected this from him since he always tend to be melodramatic. Shaking her head as if to say it's final, he scowled and shot her a piercing stare. "Fine," the blonde got up from his armchair and headed towards a door that led to the bathroom. "Might as well get this over with…" he grumbled.

A few minutes of foot tapping later, Hermione heard the door open and turned to see what his new appearance looked like. His hair hung loosely making it look naturally soft; some had fallen over his grey eyes making Draco swat it away from his still sullen face. To say he looked adorable was an understatement.

Feeling eyes upon him, he turned to see Hermione openly staring with her mouth slightly open. He smiled deviously before saying, "You know, you remind me of my twice removed cousin when he watches girls pass by. Open mouthed and drooling." He laughed with mirth causing Hermione to snap out of her stupor.

Brushing off his comment, she shook her head and faced the armchair across the room with a tinge of pink in her cheeks hoping that Draco wouldn't notice. He did, but decided not to think too much of it. The brunette scribbled something else on the now wrinkled piece of parchment and handed it to the boy who was sitting next to her on the couch.

'_It's your turn and your hair looks nice.'_ It wrote with the last words noticeably smaller then the rest. His lips quirked into a knowing smirk making him look even more charming. "Truth or dare?" he asked.

Hermione put up two fingers indicating the second choice. A few seconds later, he spoke, "I dare you to dye your hair blonde tomorrow for everyone to see." He was grinning with glee while the girl looked absolutely mortified. "Hey, you mess with my hair; it's only fair I mess with yours."

Shooting him a dirty look, Hermione grabbed the parchment from the coffee table and proceeded to scribble dejectedly. Shoving the nearly crumpled parchment to his chest, she made sure to use a bit more force then necessary.

'_I'll do what you said, truth or dare?'_

They didn't know how long the game went on but was glad it was a Friday, at least Hermione was. She looked at Draco beside her who now sported a fruit hat and geeky glasses she had conjured. It was surprising at what he had told her too; turns out they had quite a bit of things in common. "It's your turn" he said. Hermione nodded and he chose dare, in fact, they did a lot more dares than truths.

Furrowing her eyebrows in concentration, she contemplated a bit and remembered the jinx that was still on her. _'Hmm, why not give it a try?'_ she thought. Passing the note with her new bidding back to him, Hermione watched his face with slight apprehension.

Scanning the parchment, Draco nearly fell off the couch when he saw what she wrote.

'_Kiss me' _

Surprise was written all over his flawless visage, he looked into her eyes to confirm if she was kidding. She wasn't, instead she looked determined but also a bit uncertain. "Wh-what?" it was all Draco could say out of his bewildered state.

Hermione rolled her eyes and waved at the clenched up parchment in his hands as if it said it all. He narrowed his eyes at her and she smirked for the second time. Her eyes clearly questioning his will. Instantly his face hardened, "Alright I'll do it, be prepared Granger." Draco replied pompously.

Even though Hermione showed no signs of nervousness on her face, she really was tense on the inside. Unconsciously she wringed her fingers as the blond came closer whilst removing her conjured up things and putting it next to hers that he had conjured. He sat down facing the brunette on the couch and waited a minute or two to prepare for the inevitable.

Despite the indifferent expression that was placed on his face, he was just as unnerved as Hermione. Though Draco was still shocked at the uncanny dare she gave him, he never backed down on anything and he sure as won't start now. Deciding not to close his eyes just yet, he began to lean into her whilst staring at her soft pink lips. Her amber eyes lit avidly and the spots of pink in her cheeks made her look cute. _Whoa, either I ate too much of those chocolate éclairs my mother sent or I've just noticed something I shouldn't have. I should make sure to remind her not to add too much of those…those…_

Draco's thoughts scattered as he noticed how close her face was to his. He tried hard not swallow and instead opting on what he must do. Shutting his eyes he prepared himself and placed his lips on hers before any thoughts of retreat could be heeded. The moment there lips touched, it sent a jolt of something up his spine making him shiver. Apparently the same happened for Hermione since he felt the shiver she made.

The feeling was unfamiliar to him as he had never felt like this. It was like a foreign ground he never knew existed. Confused and curious he made to deepen the kiss but Hermione pulled away. Her heavy lidded eyes began to focus on the blonde in front of her. After a few seconds of recovery, she tried to speak, testing if the kiss had worked on removing the jinx. "Umm…I-"

She couldn't say anything…much, for there was nothing to say. _'At least it worked' _she thought. Though she still had no idea what had possessed her to make up that crazy dare, she blamed it on her overworked brain and the incessant amount of coffee she had drunk during there break from the game. In the midst of her thinking, Hermione finally noticed a pair of eyes still on her. Looking at Draco, she flushed red and attempted to cover the awkward silence.

"Well-umm, tha-that was…"

Draco started at the voice, her voice. '_So she finally speaks…' _he thought.

After the kiss ended Draco couldn't help but feel disappointed. He was eager to find out what those strange feeling were, and to do that he had to kiss her again. _'It's not like I'll like it, I'm only just feeding my curiosity. It's just to find out, right?_

Once again silence ensued and Hermione was the first to take effort in cracking the ice. Not that there wasn't any ice for the past 6 years. "Well I guess the kiss worked, you see I was sort of jinxed by my friend, Ginny, you probably don't care but she had this crazy idea…" she continued to ramble on about what had happened to clear off any misinterpretations that was bound to occur. It could also be the state of nervousness that always made her talk to no end, but she chose to deny the latter. Draco decided to let her continue for a few minutes in amusement to how long she could keep talking. That ended up lasting six minutes, _'and nonstop too'_. He snorted at her odd personality and finally cut her off with another kiss. This time Hermione did not pull away, surprised and feeling somewhat content.

'_Maybe I don't need to kill Ginny after all…' _she concluded.


End file.
